


Follow Me Follow You

by inawasteland



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 03:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2052060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inawasteland/pseuds/inawasteland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wash has a shadow and he doesn’t know what to do to make it stop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow Me Follow You

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by an anon. The request was "Can we pretend I didn't just say that?" and Docington. Would you like a prompt filled? The post can be found at my tumblr [here](http://cheekylittleblog.tumblr.com/post/93268419974/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-line-of-dialogue-and-i-apos-ll). Just drop a message in my ask box and I will write you a short fic! (Other fandoms I will fulfill besides RvB are RWBY and AH/RT)

Although it was pretty much universally agreed (well,  _almost_  universally agreed) that having Doc around was more of a hindrance than a help on account of him not actually knowing much about how to treat the sort of ailments that they come across on a daily basis, and his pacifism means that he’s not  _really_ helping the war effort, Donut wouldn’t shut up about the disappearance of the purple bastard.  In fact, out of everyone, Donut was the only one who actually noticed that he was gone.

It was Carolina who found him.  Although, “found” is a loaded term.  It was more like she tripped over him.  Not his corpse, mind you, he was still very much alive, but being on his own in Chorus for so long, he had to take a more desperate approach to staying alive.  Which meant more or less burrowing into the ground and using the cover of night to go foraging for food.

"If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s gone native," Grif commented, grimacing at the source of food Doc had relied on for the past however long it had been.  Nobody really knew, seeing as how the only reason Donut had noticed to begin with was that, well, his usual stretching partner and masseuse wasn’t there to give him a good old full body rub.

Now that he was back, though, most of the Reds (minus Donut, of course) were busy thinking up ways to lose him again.  The Blues were more concerned with how to deal with Felix and Locus, and Agent Washington?

Well, he soon regretted reaching out to Doc to make sure he felt welcome and try to figure out just what happened while Doc was on his own.  Luckily, Dr. Grey was more than willing to intercept, citing her medical prowess as a good jumping off point for conversation.  And as it turns out? Doc didn’t really have anything to offer as far as reconnaissance went.  He barely witnessed anything out of the ordinary.

So, for the next few days, Wash had a shadow in the form of Doc Dufresne.  It was kind of endearing, at first, but even Wash had his limits.  Actually, his limits were very tight, and it took all of his patience not to strangle the poor guy right then and there, in front of everyone.  This wasn’t exactly unexpected, though, Wash was used to being a solitary soldier for the most part.  His trust could take years to earn, and mere seconds to lose.

But as much as he couldn’t stand Doc, he knew better than to take out his own frustrations on him.  Doc clearly longed for some sort of interaction, which after so long of being on his own, made perfect sense.  Wash could even empathize, to a point.  But it needed to stop, before Wash really did lash out at him.

One night, when Wash couldn’t sleep (which was not a rare occurrence at all, in fact, Wash couldn’t remember the last time he slept through the night) he slipped out of his sleeping quarters and boldly left the entrance to the shelter.  At least when Wash couldn’t sleep, Doc usually could, so he was able to take a seat right at the entrance and just close his eyes, let the feel of the breeze calm him back down and ease those dark images away from his tired mind.  It was his form of meditation, and while it didn’t always put him back to sleep, it at least allowed his pulse and heartrate to slow back down.  It was the only thing keeping him from having a complete breakdown.

The sound of a snapping twig brought Wash back to alert, and his hand automatically went for the knife he kept strapped to him at all times, even when out of his armor.  When he saw it was Doc, his hand left the knife, but he was too wired now, all his efforts to calm him down had been stamped out and feeling a desperation he couldn’t recall ever feeling before, he let out a guttural sound.  Doc backed away, throwing his hands up to show that he meant no harm.

"Don’t you  _ever_  get a hint?  Stop following me!  I can’t take it anymore!  All this time, I’ve just been trying to be alone, and you’re always there, like a…like a…like a…” but before he could even come up with a metaphor, Doc’s face underwent a multitude of changes in the span of a second.  From tired, to confusion, to flat out disappointment.  It was the disappointment that made Wash regret snapping at him the most. _  
_

And before Wash could say anything, Doc turned around and headed back to his bunk.

As much as Wash knew he would regret  _this_ , he pushed himself back up onto his feet and ran after him.  It didn’t take long to catch up to him and Wash reached his hand out to tap Doc on the shoulder and spin him around.

"Wait…can we pretend I didn’t just say that?" Wash suggested, pleading for forgiveness with his eyes.  He knew deep down that Doc didn’t  _mean_  to cause trouble.  If Wash weren’t as fucked up as he happened to be, he probably would have at least attempted to be friendlier with Doc.  Also, if they weren’t caught in the middle of a civil war that they sort of helped exacerbate…but that was a completely different story for a completely different time.  ”Look, if you really can’t sleep you can come back and we can talk.  Do you want to talk?”

And Doc, who had been silent this whole time, his eyes lit up and Wash felt at least a little bit better.  At least nobody else had been awake to witness this.

When the two retreated back to the place at the entrance where Doc had found Wash, the two talked.  About anything and everything, from what happened to Doc on Chorus to how Wash learned how to handle a knife.  And when Wash mentioned how crap he was at sleeping lately, Doc offered a shoulder rub. 

"I know, I know it’s not really a cure for insomnia, but it’s all I know.  Dr. Grey would probably prescribe you sleeping pills, but I always say a good shoulder rub can get rid of all those tensions built up from the day.  And you never know, maybe it’ll work."  Wash was pretty sure it wouldn’t work, but he wasn’t going to say no.

And although the shoulder rub itself didn’t work, the pair did wind up falling asleep finally at some point when the sun was starting to come up.  And when Tucker found them the following morning, with Wash slumped up against Doc’s shoulder, he decided to spare the both of them the ridicule by waking them up and directing them back to their bunks.

After that, Wash decided Doc wasn’t as bad as everyone said he was.  Sure, he was no soldier, and he wasn’t even a doctor, but he could probably be a good friend.  And with everything that was going on?  Friends weren’t exactly something Wash had a lot of and could most definitely use more of.


End file.
